Chavez-controlled Citgo Gets Another Pass from Networks

On March 2 a major oil company operating within the United States
announced it would take steps to avoid reporting to the U.S.
government. But in the week since, none of the three broadcast
networks has taken notice, even though a Business & Media Institute study
found the same media outlets have consistently attacked American oil
companies as deserving additional government scrutiny for their
windfall profits. Broadcast media outlets also ignored
ExxonMobils plans to pump more money into improving and increasing
oil production.

As a state company we cannot be subject to the legal obligations of
foreign countries used to protect bondholders, Venezuelan Oil
Minister Rafael Ramirez said on March 2, announcing Citgo Petroleum
Corporations plan to buy back bonds from American investors to
avoid oversight by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
According to the Associated Press report, SEC filings disclose to
investors key details about how the company operates, such as income
from exports, refining, production and reserves.

The Hugo Chavez-led government of Venezuela owns Citgo, the American
subsidiary of the state-run oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA).

A Business & Media Institute (BMI) review of network transcripts found no
stories on ABC, CBS, or NBC about the announcement in the days
since, continuing a trend the Business & Media Institute documented in a
March 1 study,
Hugo the Boss: Media criticize greed of energy executives but go
easy on Venezuelas oil strongman.

In the study, BMI found a virtual media blackout on Chavezs
belligerence including threatening to cut off
oil shipments to the United States and cutting back inbound
airline flights from the
United States
while the media focused intense scrutiny on the business practices
of private, U.S.-based oil companies.

Big profits for Big Oil were big news in the past year. Network
reporters couldnt muster enough hyperbole to describe the success
of the other major energy companies, wrote BMI Director Dan Gainor.
Gainor noted that while ExxonMobil was held to scrutiny for record
profits, it was vastly outperformed by Communist Chinas
state-owned PetroChina, which yielded nearly a 23 percent profit in
2004, another petroleum company found undeserving of scrutiny by
the broadcast media.

While the media frequently feared that U.S. oil companies would not
reinvest profits into producing more oil, they failed to report
precisely that move by the nations largest oil company. The CBS,
ABC, and NBC evening newscasts left out of their March 8 editions
any mention of ExxonMobils (NYSE:
XOM)
plans to increase capital spending to improve oil production
operations. The new company budget calls for somewhere between $18
billion and $20 billion, up from $17.7 billion last year, reported
Reuters
on the morning of March 8, adding that the boost in spending comes
as lawmakers and consumer advocates accuse large oil companies of
not investing enough to boost oil and gas production.

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